Saturday, November 21, 2009

The last of the grandchildren of Tully Washington Reed (1856-1910) and Katie Thompson (1860-1929) died at the age of 93 on Saturday, November 7, 2009, in Mt. Airy, Maryland.

Elizabeth Anita Reed Hudlow was born May 11, 1916, a daughter of Norman McCloud Reed (1886-1955) and Florence Heitzman Reed (1892-1960). She spent her early childhood years in Easton, Pennsylvania, then moved with her family to the Washington, DC, area. She lived in the Maryland suburbs of DC the rest of her life.

About the same age, she and my father Tully Reed, her first cousin, were always close over the years, and we saw her and Bob almost as often as my aunts and uncles. (Right: L. Tully Reed, Josie's father, and Elizabeth Reed about 1945)

Liz had a heart of gold. And despite more times of great sadness in her life than most of us could bear, she was (almost) always full of fun. To quote my 2nd cousin Kay Hoyle, her niece, "Heaven will never be the same!"

Her remains were interred at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland, near her beloved husband Robert Milton Hudlow (1924-2007) and daughter Lois Hudlow (1959-1983). (Photo: Elizabeth, Lois, and Bob Hudlow in Boone, NC, in 1974)

One of the things I always wanted to ask her, but never did, was how her parents met. How DID a young man from Barnwell County, South Carolina, wind up with a girl from Pennsylvania?

*Josephine "Josie" Reed is my fifth cousin who lives in Ontario, Canada. I was very fortunate to meet her online in March 2008. Since then I've come to count on her excellent research and judgment. Thank you once again, Josie, for all your help!

Click here to see Josie's line from Samuel. (While you're there, think about adding yours.)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

We all have different resources. My public library has info yours might not have. Some of us have built significant personal libraries. I use GenealogyBank.com and Footnote.com in addition to Ancestry; maybe you don't. Just this week I found an item in Google Books that made an excellent researcher/cousin say she really needed to start using that resource.

And we all have our brick walls – those puzzles that continue to baffle us no matter how hard we look.

I’ve been thinking that maybe the more people who know about our puzzles, the sooner we may be able to solve them.

Would you like to put your puzzler out there for fellow researchers to take a stab at? Send me a description of your brick wall along with where you've looked to try to knock it down. (samuelreedfamilyATgmailDOTcom)

I'll start with a big one of mine.

WARNING: TANGENT TRAP! I began writing this post about 6AM. The tangents I’ve been on since then have amazed even me! Oh, I found some great stuff, but it has certainly slowed down the writing. Just thought I’d warn you. Try to focus and be succinct.

Who was Martha/Mary Cook Reed?

She was my great-great-grandmother, the wife of James Henry Reed and mother of John William Cook Reed. I have not been able to learn when or where she died or where she is buried. I’m not positive about when she was born, and I have no clue as to her parents.

Click image to enlarge.

The portrait identified in my Granddaddy Reed's handwriting says Martha. But was her name really Martha, or was it Mary?

The 1860 census has Mary A. Read born abt 1840 (newly married per 1900 census).

In 1870 we see Margaret Read born abt 1845 (with 4 children).

By 1880, it was Mary Reed born abt 1840 (with 5 children).

In 1900, we are told her name was Mary Reed, she was born February, 1844, had been married for 40 years, and had five children who were still living. (Of course, it has James as being born in March 1835, and we know that’s incorrect, depending on which source is used. His tombstone has February 18, 1825 while the family bible of his uncle Benjamin Odom Jr. has February 17, 1826. No March, and no 1835.)

In 1900, James and “Mary” and their daughter Bessie were living with their daughter Eula and her husband Levi S. Tyler, Jr. in Bamberg. James Henry died November 14, 1901. What became of Mary then? By 1910, Bessie had married (in 1901, two months before her father’s death), and Eula and her family were living in Statesboro, GA. Mary does not show up on the 1910 census with either of them.

On the SC death certificate of her son John William Cook Reed (my great-grandfather), her son Harold W. Reed says her name was Mary Cook and that she was born in Aiken County, SC.

On the SC death certificate of her daughter Bessie Reed Hudson, Bessie’s husband George listed Mary Cook born in Aiken.

I’m thinking it’s time to go with “Mary” instead of “Martha.” Sorry, Granddaddy.

Her husband, James Henry Reed, is buried in the Gardenia Rd. Reed Cemetery along with his mother, a brother, two sisters, two nephews, and a brother-in-law. One of the sisters is believed to be Martha Reed born May 10, 1844 and died in 1923. (I remain forever grateful to cousin Sharon Crowley for braving the briars and bushes to find this out and posting them on FindAGrave.) The 1900 census has my 2gGM born Feb. 1844 and James’s sister Martha born May 1844. Even though the stone says simply “Martha Reed,” she is buried beside her husband Henry Kemp. So I don’t believe this is my 2gGM.

If you go looking in Aiken County pre-1860, know that we’ve already discounted Frederick Cook as her father. He had a daughter Martha about the same age, but she still shows up on his 1870 census.

What resources or information might you have to help solve this puzzler?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veterans Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, National Day, Day of Peace. This day has many names the world over, but they all commemorate that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

Last year this day became even more significant to me when I learned exactly where my grandfathers were on November 11, 1918. I share here the stories of three Veterans closest to me. Many of our loved ones have served. Please feel free to leave a comment and share your remembrances with us. If you have pictures you would like to have posted as well, please let me know.

John Osborne Reed, my paternal grandfather, was a Carpenter's Mate 1st Class in the United States Naval Reserve Forces.

My father tells me that in November, 1918, Osborne was training at Parris Island in the Navy, preparing to be shipped to war. For some reason Osborne spent the night of November 10 in Port Royal. He learned early the next morning of the Armistice. He also learned that the phone lines were down to Parris Island. As my dad tells it, my granddaddy rushed across the bridge and was the first one to proclaim the good news to his comrades.

Osborne Reed is the young man to the left. This snapshot was taken at Parris Island.

After the war, Osborne Reed resumed his studies at the University of South Carolina. He soon met Carrie Belle Strickland, a young nurse working in the clinic there. Carrie was from the Bull Swamp section of Lexington County near Swansea. They were married in 1922.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oswell Boyce McLeod, my maternal grandfather, was drafted into the Army in 1917. He had graduated from the University of South Carolina and was teaching school. In her letters, his mother Ellen Irene Jones McLeod begged him to try to get a deferment for health reasons.

She had lost her youngest son Aubrey (pictured to the right) on April 28, 1917 to the flu epidemic. He had been in the Army, too.

An excerpt from one of her letters (edited for clarity) dated May 9, 1917:

“I hope you won’t be called off in the war, Boyce . . . A blank came here for you to fill out yesterday, and mama has been scared ever since, afraid you would have to go to the war. So you see your Dr. and try to get every thing right if you are called on so you want have to go. Boyce, you can say you can’t work one day long on your feet. The only way you can work to support your self is to sit down an teach school about half of your time. You have been operated on twice an will have to have another operation at any time.
“Boyce, Lemot Bains got out of going to the war on account of his health, and he can plow. You know you could not work one day in the field.
“Boyce, do see your Doctor and do everything in your power that can be done. Dear Boyce, write soon. . . Do attend to this at once. Go see your Dr at once. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Do it at once.”

As required, Boyce registered with the draft on June 5, 1917. In October, he received this card from the War Department.

Here is a closeup of the orders (click to enlarge):

Boyce reported as required and boarded the train for the newly created Camp Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.

While he was in Columbia, he married Miss Mary Clifton Duke from Blythewood, South Carolina, on February 16, 1918. By July, Boyce was on his way to France.

This is a postcard Boyce sent to Mary when he was on his way to Europe. (Click to enlarge.)

Boyce was a PFC in the 318th Machine Gun Battalion of the 81st National Army Division. On November 10, the 81st Division heard rumors of an armistice, but had no confirmation. On the morning of the eleventh, the battle continued. Orders came for cease-fire at 11:00 AM sharp. Suddenly, all firing stopped. Granddaddy spoke in years later of the silence that morning - eerie and glorious at the same time. The war was over!

The 81st stayed in the area until they returned home in June 1919. Granddaddy even had opportunity to teach in France.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Certainly no armed forces holiday passes without remembrance of the service to our country of my own brother John.

John Osborne Reed, III, was the oldest son of Joe and Mary Duke Reed. He enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1966 during the height of the VietNam War. He was in VietNam in 1967-68. His Navy tour ended in 1970. While in Nam, John was drenched twice with Agent Orange on the LST where he served carrying supplies up and down the river.

John in VietNam

After discharge from the Navy, John returned to the University of South Carolina, married, and had two children. He was a masterful carpenter, and his lifelong favorite pastime was his beloved fishing.

John battled the ill effects of Agent Orange for the rest of his life. He lost that battle on June 3, 2004, when he died of lung cancer directly linked to his exposure to Agent Orange. He is buried in Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

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My goal with this blog is to share information with and about descendants of my great-great-great- great grandparents, Samuel and Mary Clark Reed.I hope you will feel free to share your stories, questions, comments, lists, links, and suggestions.Make a comment here, or send an e-mail tosamuelreedfamily AT gmail DOT com.Photos are welcomed!